“The choice of deli vegetables is plentiful, and the shop even has gluten-free noodles. Perfect for my taste,” Ochi-san says about City Shop Noodle, one of her go-to eateries facing Aoyama-dori Street. You order Deli-style, choosing your pick from four kinds of noodles and then a variety of seasonings, from Omega-3 sea salt to vegan tantan (sesame).

Vegetarians and health-conscious eaters will have a field day with the diverse selection! A main deli food, salad, and topping also belong to a full meal at City Shop Noodle. Especially the vegetable soup is delicious! “From Asian cuisine to Western-style food, it’s up to you what you want to eat,” says Ochi-san. During lunch, a cup of tea or coffee is also included in the sets that that at 1,512 yen.

“Every Saturday and Sunday, the farmers from around the Kanto area gather here to sell a selection of their produce and processed foods,” explains our local guide. While a lot of people have started to order rice online due to the sheer weight of the big bags, Kaori Ochi says she enjoys strolling through the stalls and having a chat with the farmers.

The concept of this market is “Food builds bodies, nurtures thoughts, and even creates societies” – it’s not just a place to sell fresh produce for farmers of the local area, but it also serves as a place for the community and to connect consumers with producers. There isn’t only produce to find, though, there are also plenty of stalls selling food and drinks! Every time, the Farmer’s Market @ UNU also hosts little events each time, such as a lunch with ingredients from the farmers or workshops about yoga or food.

When people hear Omotesando and Harajuku, they tend to think of super-popular shops, subculture fashion, upscale brands, and restaurants that require a reservation months prior to even get in. “Not so in the back alleys of the area, though, where you’ll find down-to-earth greengrocers and rice sellers. These streets are a lot more ‘local culture’ than Harajuku and Omotesando,” says Ochi-san.

And indeed, we followed a few people dressed in the latest fashion who strutted confidently through Cat Street and stumbled upon a long-established fruit and vegetable shop. Aoyama-dori Street has its own beautiful atmosphere with a nostalgic tofu shop and a public bath, offering wonderfully local scenery for an afternoon stroll. These back alleys aren’t necessarily something you’ll see in guidebooks or on Instagram, but they convey a very different side of the trendy area, filled with their own charm and surprises.

“This bento shop is run by a family and especially offers a lot of different croquettes, but also all sorts of other dishes such as fried food and many side dishes.” Ochi-san likes cooking, but sometimes she just doesn’t have the time and likes to stop by Marusei in the nearby Cat Street for a filling bento. While plenty of shops in the area offer take-out, a lot of them are rather expensive.

In short, they simply cannot keep up with Marusei’s unbeatable Chinese-style fried chicken bento for 580 yen, which is both very reasonably priced and wonderfully filling on top of being tasty. Unlike at convenience stores that simply heat up the bento in the microwave, Marusei makes each bento fresh to order!

“It’s just a stone’s throw away from Harajuku and Omotesando, but here are many charming little eateries that are more than affordable.” Jingumae 2-chome is an area for the locals to shop and dine in, and even Ochi-san has lived here until recently.

One great eatery is Kotori Shokudo, offering one-plate lunch meals made with healthy ingredients and served in a wonderfully comfortable atmosphere. There are many spots like that and Ochi-san also recommends AZ Finom, a restaurant serving Hungarian cuisine for 1,000 yen during lunch. She visited it with her husband recently. Instead of deciding on where to eat beforehand, take your time and stroll through the neighborhood, checking out the signboard with today’s recommendations in front of all the restaurants. You won’t regret it.

“Tomigaya has a lot of small shops offering take-out and the prices are cheaper than in Harajuku.” The charming neighborhood also is not far from Shibuya, Harajuku, and Omotesando, earning it the nickname of Oku-Shibuya (“inner Shibuya”). Ochi-san’s current favorite is a bakery called 356 Days and a coffee shop going by the name of Little Nap Coffee Stand.

Her husband’s passion, on the other hand, is curry and he is in love with Spice Post, a curry shop open from 9:00 a.m. in the morning. It’s just a short walk to Yoyogi Park from Tomigaya Station, so if your feet need a rest, recharge your energies with a tasty take-out snack in the lush park. Of course, the shops we just introduced also feature tables to sit down right inside. “The neighborhood has a unique and charming atmosphere, so eating at the stores themselves is a recommendation as well,” says Ochi-san.

“Once a year, the shrine right in the heart of Harajuku launches beautiful fireworks,” explains Ochi-san. That is Tōgō Shrine’s Mitama Festival. Japanese summer marks the time of Obon, a Buddhist custom about honoring and encountering the souls of one’s ancestors, an ancient belief with many different customs.

One of them is okuribi, a ceremony to see off the spirits that are celebrated in the shrine’s Mitama Festival. Every year, it takes place on the last day of Obon, which is July 16th according to the old lunar calendar.

The Mitama Festival honors the 20,000 ancestor souls enshrined in the Umi no Miya shrine on the precincts. After the ceremony is over, people light paper lanterns that bear the name of a deceased person and set them afloat on the pond. The fireworks can be seen from outside the shrine, but we highly recommend to experience this ancient summer tradition first-hand and witness it from inside the shrine grounds.